Metal gurus: Oloff and Muir de Wet enjoying life aboard their self-built aluminium yacht Ongemak
With her name on the hull, mast stepped
and antifouling below the waterline
Ongemak is ready for her first voyageTransport day required a crane and a
large truck to move Ongemak to the
Royal Cape Yacht ClubTo be in a boat, and to sail it, while always
being aware of the fact that you created it
yourself, is one of the most rewarding
experiences I have ever had.
A great experience
I believe that to experience and to create
are two of the most important things this
world has to offer. Some other advantages
of building a boat yourself are:
QYou acquire many new skills, like
designing, welding, carpentry, and, very
importantly, how to negotiate with
chandlers and suppliers.
QYou get exactly what you want: from the
length of the bunks to the make of the
foot-pumps, it is all for you to decide.
QYou know your boat inside out. If there
is ever a problem with the plumbing or
the electricity, you will be able to find the
fault and to repair it more quickly than
any professional.
QWhile doing all this you visit strange
places and meet interesting people – I
often had the feeling of being a tourist in
my own city.
QYour whole tribe eventually gets
involved. Friends, neighbours and family
get inspired by the idea that you can do
something totally out of the box, and often
someone would quickly come by just for a
short chat and to see how things are
going, or give you something they found
in the garage which might help you in
your project.
But there are disadvantages as well to
building your own boat. Two main ones
come to mind:
QTIME: Muir and I both did part-time
work and spent some time fixing up and
managing our rental properties. But for
about eight months of every year we
worked nearly exclusively on the boat.
I estimate we each worked about 1,000
hours a year on the boat for five years.
Of course about half the time was spent
designing and planning, and I’m sure that
to make another boat will take less than
half the time, but anyone building should
keep in mind that every single job usually
takes longer than you estimate.
It is not for no reason there are so many
semi-complete boats all over the world.QMONEY: Building your own boat is not
a cheap way to get a boat. For a cheap
boat buy a good second-hand one and fix
it up.
But by building you do end up with a
new boat, hopefully at quite a bit less than
what a new boat would cost, with the
added benefit that costs are spread out
over years.
Just never ever try to think what your
time was worth! Rather, try to convince
yourself that you went to a boatbuilding
university, where you did a degree in
boatbuilding for free – you just had to
supply your own materials!BUILD AN ALLOY SLOOP